home in the saddle. The daughters of Joseph Putnam, sisters of Israel,
were celebrated as equestrians. Tradition relates adventurous feats of
theirs in this line, equal to that which constitutes a part of the
history of their famous brother. There were, perhaps, several games of
skill or chance practised more or less, even in those days, in this
neighborhood. The only one that seems to have been openly allowed, of
which we have any evidence, was shovel-board. This game, now supposed
to be out of use, is referred to by Shakespeare, and was quite common
in England as well as in this country. A board about two and a half
feet wide and twenty feet long was placed three feet above the floor,
somewhat like a billiard-table, though not with so wide a surface,
precisely level and perfectly smooth, covered with a sprinkling of
fine sand. It was provided with weights or balls, called "pieces,"
flattened on one end. The game consisted in shoving them as far as
possible, without going over the end. A trough surrounded the table to
catch the pieces if they fell. Richard Grant White, from whom this
account of the game has been derived, says that "it required great
accuracy of eye, and steadiness of hand, much more than ten-pins." He
states that, when a boy, he saw it played by "brawny" men, in
Brooklyn, N.Y., and that the pieces then used were of brass. It is
probable that the "pieces" used on Bridget Bishop's shovel-board were
made of some heavy wood, as they were thrown into the fire for the
purpose of destroying them. The fact that a game like this was
suffered to be openly played in Salem Village is quite remarkable,
and shows that some license was left for such amusements.

The records and files of the local courts show, that, notwithstanding
the austere gravity and strictness of manners and morals usually
ascribed to our New-England ancestors, occasional irregularities
occurred in the early settlements, which would be considered high